Egypt has announced its agreement to resume negotiations with Sudan and Ethiopia over the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is a source of tensions in the region.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday evening that Egypt had expressed "its constant readiness to engage in the negotiating process and participate in the meeting to be held."
The Foreign Ministry stressed the importance of the agreement to be "serious and constructive, and to contribute to reaching a just, balanced and comprehensive agreement that preserves Egypt's water interests and equally takes into account the interests of Ethiopia and Sudan."
On Thursday, Sudan announced an agreement with Ethiopia to return with Egypt and "as soon as possible" to negotiate the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, after discussions between the prime ministers of the two countries.
"The two sides agreed to assign the water ministers of the three countries to start arrangements to return to negotiations as soon as possible," the office of the Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamduk said in a statement.
The announcement comes after negotiations were suspended in February, following Ethiopia's refusal to sign a draft agreement that was reported to the United States and the World Bank.
The dam raises Sudan and Egypt's concerns about securing their shares of Nile water.
In 2011, Ethiopia started building the Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile at a cost of $ 6 billion.
Since that date, the three countries have entered into negotiations to agree on limiting the impact of the Ethiopian dam on both Sudan and Egypt.
On May 12, Sudan rejected an Ethiopian proposal to sign a partial agreement to start filling the Dam Lake in July.
At the beginning of the week, Hamdock held talks in particular, through the "video-conferencing" technique, with his Egyptian counterpart Mustafa Madbouly with the participation of the foreign and irrigation ministers and intelligence chiefs of both countries.